This is one of my very first tables in which fabric and wood were combined. It was in my thesis show for my MFA. I made four tables of similar design, with slight variations and called them “Stripe Reliquaries.” This one is “Stripe Reliquary – Turquoise.” There are also blue, red, and green versions. Just as a religious reliquary might house and display a relic from a saint, the interior space of the table is used to house and display the striped handmade fabric that I considered to be the relic. I wanted to present a normally mundane element in our lives, the fabric, as a precious thing to be noticed and appreciated.

Stripe Reliquary-Turquoise has a thin gap in each end through which the fabric emerges from the table and puddles on the floor – a very textile-esqe thing to do. The boards I used to make the table are all striped as well. I made the boards by stacking multiple layers of 3/4″ plywood together, then resawing them so the striped endgrain faces up. This is one of my most bodacious pieces and I just love it.